Entering the Era of Intelligent Robot in Power Inspection

In order to ensure safety and steady operation during substation summer power supply, the State Power Grid applies new equipments and technologies such as intelligent robot and unmanned plane to broaden inspection scope.

11 robots will be put into operation and promoted in 25 220kV power substations this summer, serving to assist equipment inspection along with substation operators, said Zheng Xiuyu, senior engineer of the department of operation and maintenance of State Power Grid Beijing Division, the company has been piloting intelligent inspection robot in substations since 2013 and is currently applying robots in 6 substations.

According to on-site observation of the correspondent, the robot stops at every 3 to 5 meters to scan the surrounded equipments in multiple angles with its ‘eyes’. Wiper on the head is designed to cleanse the ‘eyes’, it’s also equipped with a pair of jacklight for night lighting. After inspection, the robot will return to its cabinet for recharge and maintenance, the whole process is totally automatic.

Application of the robots ensures safety of the staff, saves labor and highly improves inspection precision, said Zheng Xiuyu, take an 500kV substation as example, previously manual inspection was required every two days, whereas the robot can inspect two times a day, reducing manual regular inspection to once a week. Application of the inspection robots marks the coming of the intellectual era of power inspection.

This type of robot is capable of both inspection and data processing. In the power emergency control center, our correspondent saw on the computer screen infrared image alongside the inspection data delivered from the robot. On discovering over-heated point, operator can consult historical inspection data at the point to come up with a better diagnose of the equipment condition and the problem.

The State Power Grid indicates that implementation of intelligent robot and other intelligent products will be accelerated and the company will try to realize full coverage of 500(300)kV and above substations in the year 2015.